This morning, we were scheduled to dock in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Yesterday, we were at Kotor, Montenegro. The weather did not look good at all. In fact, the winds were quite strong. You can see the waves.
When I took this picture, the ship was heading starboard. I wondered why.
For some reason, there was this ship anchored and it seemed to be blocking our path.
A closer view of the solitary ship, anchored.
It was clear that we were going to turn in front of her.
We were turning starboard and appeared to be leaving! We are almost at the aft of the Silhouette, so I could see this ship past us behind. I could also see the azipods in full action.
Check out the video:
Look far and you can see the very heavy storms. The weather didn't look good at all.
Were we leaving? Were the waters too choppy for us to dock? There must be some reason why we are doing the starboard turn and heading out to open sea again.
Fortunately, we would go one full circle and proceed into the harbour.
Skies were overcast, but we were going to dock anyway. It was raining.
The picture is blurred, but you can see the all aboard time.
The plan was to take a taxi into Dubrovnik. It costs 10 Euros. Each cab could take 4. The distance travelled was quite far, in my opinion. Earlier on, the Cruise Director said that it was possible to walk from the port to Dubrovnik. Possible, but it would take at least an hour and it was undulating. I wouldn't recommend it as we did not have much time in this port.
Their taxis looked like this.
Tourist information, where we could get a free map.
Walking into the town. Our main objective was to get up the city walls. Hopefully the skies wouldn't open up.
A map of the city.
This is interesting. The map shows the sites of the damage caused by the aggression on Dubrovnik by the Yugoslav army, the Serbs and the Montenegrins in 1991-92.
We found the place to buy the tickets for the city walls. No EURO, the sign screamed. Only Kuna or Credit Card. 90 Kuna per adult and 30 Kuna per child. Later on, we found out that most shops in the city didn't take Euro either.
The Onuphrius' Fountain. Saint Onuprius was a hermit for 70 years in the desert near Thebais, Upper Egypt.
Here was the entrance to the City Walls. You won't miss it as it is very close to the city entrance where the cab drops you off.
Now, we are up the walls. The views were very interesting.
It was a one-way street. The reason was because during summer, this place was packed and I assume this measure was important to ensure a good flow. However, it really didn't matter when we were there. As you can see from my pictures, the wall was very empty.
Looking down the main street from the wall.
This view was looking outside the city.
Now we walk towards the sea. Look at those cliffs.
Looking inside again.
The waves, hitting the walls.
Check out this video. Awesome views.
Steep cliffs.
I guess it would be impossible to attack from the sea, with these cliffs.
Yeah, we would be walking along those walls.
The walls were meant to protect this city.
Look at those waves.
Who wants to go swimming?
Orange tree, I think.
So we keep walking.
The winds were very strong. My kid took refuge here.
Grapes! Wonder if they were good to eat. (Didn't try)
Any boat thrown against those rocks would have no chance.
Let alone a human.
Many narrow streets to walk.
Finally we got to a church. By this time, it had started raining. We met many other passengers from the cruise ship.
It was still raining, so we waited here for a while, about 20 minutes. This was the Rector's palace.
You can see the umbrellas coming out. Quite a number of Celebrity umbrellas!
As the rain lightened, people decided to start exploring again.
Buildings and more buildings. This was the main street in the city. All pedestrianized.
This is a neat view of the main street, which was called Stradun. I think it would be very busy in summer.
The cafe was open and there were patrons.
Umbrellas and more umbrellas. (Quite a number were Celebrity umbrellas)
Look at those narrow streets!
This was another street. We decided to go walking a bit more.
Post box.
Dubrovnik.
Many of the shops were opened, though there were few customers.
A pizzeria.
Looks like more activity now - open air market.
Marin Drizica. He is considered to be the finest Croatian Renaissance playwright and prose writer.
All these cafes and restaurants were shut.
Not sure if this was open.
Back to the port. It was a 10 Euro taxi ride. (Yes, the taxis accept Euros, unlike the shops in town)
Hey, wrong ship! You can always tell a Costa by looking at the funnel.
We were safely back in port after a somewhat short visit. The original plan was to go up the cable car after the city walls. However, the weather looked rather bleak and we were not sure if the cable car was open. Therefore, we decided to skip it and come back to the ship early. Nonetheless, it was a very interesting day. At least I can say that I have been to Croatia!
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